Barely a few hours after the police mowed down nine billionaire kidnappers said to have been terrorizing Lagos and its environs for a long, revelations emerged that a popular Nollywood actor and producer based in Port Harcourt, simply identified as Ode, was amongst those killed during the encounter with police.
While scepticism over the report continues to linger, it has been authoritatively confirmed that the actor and producer was one of the billionaire kidnappers killed by detectives from the Commissioner of Police Special Squad in the Ladipo area of Lagos. Sunday Vanguard learned that since the news broke, detectives have been making frantic efforts and carrying out both discreet electronic and intelligence investigations to identify the nine kidnappers they confronted at the popular Ladipo auto spare parts market where they came to kidnap a wealthy businessman.
It was learned that they continued further investigations after recovering four mobile phones from the pockets of the dead kidnappers and other vital and personal items. Police sources said the first shocking discovery made by detectives was that the two vehicles used by the kidnappers - a Lexus 350 Jeep and 4 Runner Jeep - belonged to the actor. The two vehicles that were discovered to be their operational vehicles were duly registered in his name.
Conversely, the two mobile telephones they used for operations were also registered in the name of the actor but with pictures of two yet-to-be-identified young men and fake addresses. Sources said that apart from that, every other information in the documentary information detectives got was in his name.
Sunday Vanguard also gathered that while detectives are working hard to unravel the true identities of the remaining members of the gang killed during the encounter, their efforts are paying off as they have been able to discover that one of them is a twin and they lived together in one of the suburbs of Lagos. However, sources said the twin brother fled from their residence after he learned of the fate that befell his brother. This is after a WhatsApp user wrote that he knew the twins and had been able to identify five of the killed kidnappers.
He wrote: "Yesterday was a very revealing and eye-opening day for me. Five of these kidnap gangsters were identified, and the shocking part is that two of them live in my immediate environs, and I know them from a particular bar I frequent in my area. I was showing the owner of the bar the gruesome videos and pictures, and she suddenly screamed out aloud. She pointed to the picture and shouted ... Don't I know these guys? But the bloodied faces did not make me recognize them. She proceeded to unlock her phone and showed me pictures of the guys in fresh clothes when they attended her birthday on the 27th of June, last month. I was also at the birthday and my brain just immediately rewound, and I recollected them spraying her mint notes of N500 denominations and remembered their table that was doused with very expensive liquor. They were the 'Dorime' masters of that night."
It was further gathered that one of the fleeing members of the gang was traced to a popular city in the North, and efforts are in top gear to arrest him. This is just as another of their popular rendezvous in Lagos has been discovered and detectives are keeping close watch over activities going on there to identify more of their gang members and arrest them. Already, the owner of one of the popular beer parlours, which the kidnappers reportedly frequent, is already in the police net and has given useful information to the police.
Furthermore, it was gathered that the kidnappers were able to escape the police searchlight for that long because they were always fully fitted with military uniforms and other accoutrements, which gave them easy passage at police checkpoints. The camouflage uniforms were among the items recovered in their cars after their encounter with the police at Ladipo.
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Meanwhile, police sources said executive members of the Ladipo market recently paid a solidarity visit to Lagos State Police Commissioner, Adegoke Fayoade, where they commended him and the police for the feat they have achieved in flushing criminals out of the market so far. During the visit, they also presented a certificate of commendation to the police boss and promised to cooperate with the police in their tireless efforts to curtail crime in the area.
In the same vein, it was learned that some hoteliers and businessmen also visited the police boss and revealed that a few days after the billionaire kidnappers were decimated, their businesses started booming based on the fact that customers who were afraid of coming out in the night now feel free to enjoy all night long.
